"Streets of London" is a song by Ralph McTell, who first recorded it for his 1969 album Spiral Staircase. It was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974. The song has been covered by over 200 artists. The song was re-released, on 4 December 2017, featuring McTell with Annie Lennox as a charity single for CRISIS, the Homelessness Charity. Roger Whittaker also recorded a well received version in 1971.
Background
The song was inspired by McTell's experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, especially in Paris and the individual stories are taken from Parisians. McTell was originally going to call the song "Streets of Paris"— but eventually London was chosen, because he realised he was singing about London; also, there was another song called "The Poor People of Paris". McTell's song contrasts the common problems of everyday people with those of the homeless, lonely, elderly, ignored and forgotten members of society. In an interview on Radio 5 with Danny Baker on 16 July 2016, McTell said that the market he referred to in the song was Surrey Street Market in Croydon.
Composition
McTell left the song off his debut album, Eight Frames a Second, since he regarded it as too depressing, and did not record it until persuaded by his producer, Gus Dudgeon, for his second album in 1969. A re-recorded version charted in the Netherlands in April 1972, notching up to No. 9 the next month. McTell re-recorded it for the UK single release in 1974. McTell played the song in a fingerpicking style with an AABA chord progression. Similarities of the composition have been noted with certain patterns found in Pachelbel's Canon. It also bears some resemblance to the first of Dvořák's Romantic Pieces.
Commercial performance
The song was McTell's greatest commercial success, reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, at one point selling 90,000 copies a day and winning him the 1974 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically and a Silver disc for record sales. This was kept out of the high position, by a combination of "Lonely This Christmas" of Mud, and "Down Down" of Status Quo, for two weeks.
Roger Whittaker version
In 1971, Roger Whittaker released his version making the song gain great popularity internationally. It appeared in his album New World in the Morning. The single "Streets of London" was the B-side to his own song "Why" with the radio stations promoting his version of McTell's song. It was also B-side to his huge hit "The Last Farewell" also in 1971.
In 2017, Ralph McTell re-recorded the song with Annie Lennox and clients of UK national charity Crisis, a charity for single homeless people. This was to mark the 50th anniversary of both the song and the charity. The CD single of this release was Number 1 in the Christmas 2017 Official Physical Singles Chart.
In March 2020, Ralph McTell agreed to write another verse to the song, inspired by the Coronavirus pandemic gripping the world at the time. The new verse is as follows: In shop doorways, under bridges, in all our towns and cities You can glimpse the makeshift bedding from the corner of your eye Remember what you're seeing barely hides a human being We're all in this together, brother, sister, you and I.
